Orville Lloyd Douglas
Orville Lloyd Douglas (born September 26, 1976) is a Canadian poet and prose writer. Life Douglas was born in Toronto, Ontario to Jamaican-Canadian parents. He began writing poetry around the age of 20, initially only in his diary. He graduated from York University, with 2 Bachelor of Arts degrees, in history and (with honours) in sexuality studies. He has contributed to several Canadian and international publications, including The Guardian, ColorLines, Word Magazine, New Zealand Herald, Georgia Straight, Toronto Star, Xtra!, NOW, Library Journal, and Philadelphia Inquirer. Douglas' debut collection of poetry, You Don't Know Me, was published by TSAR Publications."I only have one book published “You Don’t Know Me” but I am still trying" by Orville Lloyd Douglas In 2007, Douglas' 15-minute radio documentary "The Good Son" was broadcast across Canada on the CBC Radio One program Outfront. The initial section of the documentary was an interwoven quilt of Douglas reading his poetry and interviewing his father. The 2nd part of the documentary was a monologue as Douglas talks about his frustrations. He explores issues such as homophobia in the black community, the pernicious hypocrisy and gay racism in the homosexual culture, heterosexual marriage, family discord, and racism against black men. Douglas' poetry has been featured in the The Maple Tree Supplement, Wilderness House Literary Review, '' SNR Review'', The Vermilion Literary Project,Pedestal Magazine. His poetry has also appeared in the Seminal (2007), the anthology of gay male Canadian poetry, published by Arsenal Pulp Press. His verse has also been featured in The Venomed Kissed, an Incarnate Muse Press anthology exploring issues of childhood emotional and psychological abuse. Writing Douglas' work focuses on the tensions and intersections of race, gender, class, and sexuality He draws inspiration from the writers of the Harlem Renaissance: "These writers were all gay and black; this is what I find so fascinating and interesting." Poetry Douglas was "depressed and distraught" with the quality of his debut poetry collection, You Don't Know Me."I only have one book published “You Don’t Know Me” but I am still trying" by Orville Lloyd Douglas The book explored many polemical issues such as death, drug abuse, male prostitution, suicidal idealization, suicide, depression, identity, love, and homophobia in Caribbean culture, and gay racism. Xtra: "Douglas is not so much a poet who agonizes for years polishing a poem into a precious and delicate gem of language, as one using verse as a vehicle for venting raw emotion and making searing accusations."Brett Joseph Grubisic, "Black, Gay, and Angry," Xtra, July 20, 2005. Web, Mar. 12, 2019. Prose In the essay "Shades of Blackface", published in The New Zealand Herald, Douglas criticizes Angelina Jolie for taking the female lead in the film A Mighty Heart. Douglas argues that since the real Mariane Pearl is what he terms a "bi-racial" woman, an actress of similar heritage such as Thandie Newton should have had the role instead of a white actress. Pearl, a multi-racial woman, is the daughter of a Dutch-Jewish father and an Afro-Chinese-Cuban mother. Note: this article is also on the Institute for Jewish & Community Research website (link). He expands his thoughts about Hollywood racism and sexism against black women in a Georgia Straight opinion article, "Is White the New Black?"Douglas' The essay "Is Madea A Drag Queen?" appeared in the July/August 2009 issue of ColorLines. Douglas perspective is Tyler Perry's movies parrots a black gay aesthetic, reinforcing racist and sexist stereotypes about black heterosexual women and black gay men.http://www.colorlines.com/article.php?ID=550 The article "Same Sex Marriage's Colour Bar" published in The Guardian, challenges the stereotype that the gay community is a monolithic group. He argues it is hypocritical and racist for the white gay elite to complain about homophobia in the mainstream culture, yet discriminate against gay people of colour. In the piece "The Slighting of Serena Williams" featured in The Guardian, Douglas argues that the white American tennis establishment has a history of disrespecting African American tennis champion Serena Williams. His perspective is, the hostility the white media have towards Serena Williams is rooted in racism and sexism because she is a black woman dominating women's tennis, which is still a white sport. Publications Poetry *''You Don't Know Me''. Toronto: TSAR, 2005. *''Under My Skin''. Toronto: Guernica Editions, 2014. Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.Search results = au:Orville Lloyd Douglas, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, Sep. 19, 2015. Anthologized *''Seminal: The anthology of Canada's gay male poets''. Vancouver: Arsenal Pulp Press, 2007. *''The Venomed Kiss: Poems of childhood emotional and psychological abuse''. Incarnate Muse, 2008. Audio / video Radio documentaries *"The Good Son" - CBC Radio - 2007 See also *Black Canadian poets *LGBT poets *List of Canadian poets References Notes External links ;Poems *"Africville", Maple Tree Literary Supplement *Poetry of Orville Lloyd Douglas (3 poems) ;Prose *[http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1501119&objectid=10444455&ref=emailfriend Douglas' "Shades of Blackface" essay in The New Zealand Herald] *[http://www.straight.com/article-96155/is-white-the-new-black Douglas' "Is White The New Black?" article in The Georgia Straight] *"Same Sex Marriage's Colour bar" article in The Guardian, 2009 *Serena Williams essay in The Guardian, 2010 *"Why I Hate Being a Black Man," The Guardian, 2013 ;Books *Orville Lloyd Douglas at Amazon.com ;About *Black, gay and angry, 2005 Xtra! interview with Orville Lloyd Douglas''] Category:1976 births Category:Canadian poets Category:Canadian journalists Category:Black Canadian writers Category:Canadian people of Jamaican descent Category:People from Toronto Category:Living people Category:LGBT writers from Canada Category:Gay writers Category:York University alumni Category:21st-century poets Category:English-language poets Category:Poets Category:Black Canadian poets Category:LGBT poets